The Bread of God
John 6-7 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 6 viewsPart one will examine Jesus assertion that God provided the genuine bread of life.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Jesus and the crowd have discussed the “work of God.”
What God wants, he told them, is that “you all may be believing in whom that one sent.”
A few themes have emerged in this study:
Passover
The fickleness of the crowds.
Jesus’ wariness about the motives of the crowd.
Based upon the feeding 5k event, the crowd should give deeper thought to Jesus’ identity.
Is he a prophet?
Is he the promised prophet: Dt. 18:15.
Our greatest need is not physical food.
It is genuine life.
The life we need is not already here for us to discover or cultivate.
It had to come from heaven, God had to send it from heaven.
The dangers of Bible interpretation.
The Crowd Challenges Jesus
The Crowd Challenges Jesus
The crowd exemplifies another key issue, namely, unbelief.
In a statement that almost defies belief, they want Jesus to give an additional sign so that they may, “see and believe.”
What Jesus has already done has neither given him credibility with the crowd nor has it been sufficient to persuade him.
Again, they did not “see” the other signs. Now they want to see another one.
They also seem to understand that Jesus was talking about himself because they want him to give them a sign.
They now rely on their understanding of the scriptures.
They quote scripture to Jesus, but they understand it incorrectly or misapply it.
They may be willing to entertain, once again, that Jesus is a prophet like Moses, so they want him to mirror what Moses did as a sign they should believe him.
“It shall come to pass…that the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high, and they will eat of it in those years” (2 Baruch 29:8). Morris cites a Midrash in his footnotes on p. 321: “As the former redeemer (Moses) caused Manna to descend, as it is stated, Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you (Ex. 16.4), so will the latter Redeemer cause manna to descend as it is stated, “May he be as a rich cornfield in the land.” (Ps. 72.16).
The crowd seems to have in mind a passage like Ex. 16:4 or Ps. 78:20-25.
Jesus’ Third Response to the Crowd
Jesus’ Third Response to the Crowd
He calls their attention by another formal introduction to the significance of his ensuing statement.
He then corrects their misunderstanding.
They have attributed to Moses something he did not do. He has not given them the bread from heaven.
God has given them the genuine, the true bread from heaven.
Note the statement: the bread of God.
These words create a contrast between manna and this bread of which Jesus now speaks.
What God did in the days of Moses may have foreshadowed the genuine bread, but it was not the “main event.” It, perhaps, pointed to the main event.
That bread is the one descending from heaven.
It is a person, not literal food.
He is the one giving life to the world.
The Crowd Makes a Request of Jesus
The Crowd Makes a Request of Jesus
When they hear the words, “giving life to the world,” the crowd expresses the desire for Jesus to give them that bread.
They demand: “always give this bread to us,” or perhaps we should understand them to say, “from now on give this bread to us.”
They continue to think about physical bread.
They have not understood the point Jesus wished for them to consider.
Jesus’ 4th Response to the Crowd
Jesus’ 4th Response to the Crowd
Jesus makes an emphatic, “I am” statement.
It is the first of seven statements where it is stated in combination with some object.
Type 1: Jesus makes a personal declaration but in reference to some object or thing. The purpose is to use the object to convey a mental picture or to illustrate his meaning.
I am the bread of life (John 6:35, 48, 51).
I am the light of the world (John 8:12)
I am the door (John 10:7, 9).
. I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)
I am the true vine (John 15:1,5).
The major point, however, is found in the “coming and believing” couplet.
The one who comes to Jesus, he claims, will have his hunger permanently resolved.
This is tantamount to the one believing him who will not ever thirst at any time.
Permanent resolution provided from the outside by God.
Salvation does not lie within. It is Jesus.
Introduction Part 2:
Introduction Part 2:
Our best course of action in Bible interpretation is to be patient enough to let the speaker or writer take us in the direction we need to go.
Jesus has brought the crowd on the following way of thinking:
The work of God is that you might believe in whom that one sent. (Jn 5:29).
God sent someone, presumably into the world, that He wants people to trust.
The bread of God is the one descending from heaven and giving life to the world (Jn. 5:33).
I am the bread of life.
The one coming to me will never hunger.
The one believing in me will not possibly, at any time, thirst.
A stress on permanency:
The life is permanency.
The satisfaction of the need/appetite is permanent.
There is a higher need to seek Jesus.
Starting assumptions:
Jesus Challenges the Crowd:
Jesus Challenges the Crowd:
Briefly, Jesus will control the conversation and take it in an unexpected direction.
It will be one, however, that relates to the themes he has mentioned.
He negates their previous claim:
Jn. 6:30: They wanted Jesus to do a sign so they might see and might believe.
He tells them forthrightly that they have seen and are not believing.
No doubt Jesus has the feeding event in mind, but he may also have the other signs that drew the crowd to him in the first place.
Jesus’ Controversial Claims:
Jesus’ Controversial Claims:
He connects together knowing him and the certainty of resurrection. The focus on the wilderness, manna, and Moses has been shifted to a different topic altogether.
Notice Jesus’ claims:
All which the father is giving me will come to me.
The one coming to me I will never reject.
Because I have descended from heaven not that I may doing my own will but rather the will of the one who sent me.
This is the will of the one who sent me:
That all which he has given to me I will not lose out from it but rather raise it in the last day.
This is the will of my father:
Everyone beholding the son and believing in him may be having eternal life, and I myself will raise him in the last day.
Additional assumptions:
There is a last day.
Human beings all die.
There will be a resurrection for all who are in Jesus Christ, that is a resurrection after death after which there will no be a death of any kind again.
Jesus didn’t just bear the responsibility for dying, he also bears the responsibility for our resurrection.
Note Jn. 5:24 where eternal life is associated with not facing judgment or final condemnation. Eternal life is a present possession that will continue after the end of our present lives (whether those lives end because of death or the return of Jesus).
In the end, therefore, what matters is not ethnicity or effort but knowing Jesus.
Loyalty to the law does not guarantee resurrection. Knowing Jesus does.
